He said, I'm not asking about that, she met his eyes. He held her gaze steady, not demanding, just clear. What are you going back to? He said again. That you want to go back to?
The question sat in the room like a stone dropped in still water. She didn't answer right away. She looked at the photo of Dana on the wall. She looked at Ava's latest crayon drawing on the refrigerator. Visible from where she sat, a drawing of three stick figures in front of a house.
The middle one in what appeared to be a green jacket. She looked at the green jacket that was currently on the back of her chair. She looked at Marcus. I don't know, she said. That's honest it is.
He said it also means something. What does it mean? He took a long moment. It means whatever you built out there, you didn't build it around the right things. And you know that you knew it before you got in that car on Thursday night.
She said, "I'm starting to wonder if I know how to build around the right things, to want things for myself, not for the company, not for the board, not because something needed to be done, and I was the one who could do it. " She pressed her hands flat against her knees. I've been the person who does things for so long. I'm not entirely sure what I want when nobody needs me to do anything. Marcus was quiet for a moment. Then he said, "You wanted pecan waffles this morning. " She blinked.
"You wanted to win that cake with Ava. " He said, "Even though you claimed it was her win. You wanted to be here for dinner tonight. You want something right now. You're just not used to letting yourself name it. " She looked at him. He looked back at her, she said very quietly, Marcus.
Yeah, he said. I want to come back, she said. Not to impose. Not because I think that, she gestured vaguely between them. I know this is 3 days.
I know I don't have the right to. You don't need a right, he said. You just need to say what's true. She breathed in. She breathed out.
I want to come back. She said clearly without hedging. I want to come back and I want to not pretend to be Sarah Wells or Victoria from Vague Software Atlanta. I want to come back as myself and I understand if that changes things for you. I understand if knowing who I am makes this Victoria, he said.